respond to whatever earl leaves behind. and earl will clip north carolina's outer banks tonight. evacuations there are already underway. we have live team coverage from north carolina to virginia beach and ocean city. we're going to start with scott broom live in o.c. scott. >> reporter: nice to talk to you tonight, they are now prepared here in ocean city with -- for what they foresee to be tropical storm conditions starting overnight tonight and into about the middle of the day tomorrow. the big news on the beach today is that they have restricted swimmers going in the water because of the heavy surf. rough surf and the danger of rip occurens has caused life guards to declare the water off limits. surfers except the as earl approaches. >> in the next 24 hour it's will get crazy. >> the beach will now be closed per se. there are restrictions for entry into the water. >> reporter: crews put up

fencing to prevent drifting sand from burying parking lots and boardwalks. at marinas some boat owners pulled their craft out of the water. question for visitors is should they stay or go? >> i i'ming it's a really -- i'm thinking it's a really big storm and i kind of want to go home. >> i'm staying until tomorrow. i don't know when we're leaving. we want to see how long we can hang in there. >> reporter: most are taking their queues from the mayor and town manager. >> i think we'll see flooding downtown where we typically get flooding during a rain event. we'll see some items blowing around and don't get secured. things that you see as a result of 40-50 mile-per-hour winds but we don't think we'll see anything dramatic. >> reporter: evacuations are not a consideration unless the forecast falls apart. >> the timing of the storm hitting ocean city is good. it's early morning hours and by the afternoon it will be a thought and give us an opportunity to clean up and get ready for the rest of the weekend. >> reporter: so the

preparations are in place here in ocean city for tropical storm conditions. now it's up to earl. that's the situation here on delmarva beaches bruce leshan is standing by in virginia beach farther south. >> reporter: scott, we're just about 20 miles from the northern edge of the hurricane warning line here in virginia beach. we're expecting gale force winds overnight but i'll tell you what, there are still people out on the beach. in fact somebody just got married out on the beach. and it is looking more and more like hurricane earl will pass us here in virginia beach about 150 miles off shore. a cacophony of hurricane words on the beach and dead quiet in the emergency center. they are hoping earl slips by in the dark without waking the neighbors. but people here are haunted by

the spector of hurricane bonnie in 1998. forecasters had predicted she had spared virginia beach too. but her high winds and rains tore a multi-million dollar hole in the ocean front. >> we went home and declared victory too early in bonnie and many this time some storm comes close to us, we're watching that storm very clickly and as soon as its past virginia beach we'll have our sigh of relief. >> reporter: they're hoping a new sand burm will hold back the waves and title surge. on atlantic avenue crews are hauling away metal trash cans to keep them from bashing windows in the storm. but kristin collins is just hoping for some business at her bathing suit store. >> business has been bad today. we're expecting more people out here, but it's dead. there is no one out here. >> reporter: the winds are definitely starting to pick up. we have our wind gage here. you can see this is well over 17 miles per hour.

we're expecting it to get significantly higher than that. expect a high with winds -- the highest probably around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. back to you. >> i think your worst time is about 6:00 a.m. and i think scott's is 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. let's go to live doppler and we'll show you the wave heights. and they're beginning to build off shore. we have waves around our beaches, 6 feet now, but off shore now 7-8 feet, 9 feet and 12 -- 12 feet in some spots and that will increase overnight. the swells are yet to come. and let's go to the computer, well defined storm. nothing to sneeze at. winds are still 115 and still a category three. here is the track. as bruce mentioned, about 150 miles off shore which is good. a consistent track and we don't think anything will change the track as we go through the night and tomorrow. by tomorrow afternoon it will be just past our parallel and that means winds will improve at the beach as it begins to

accelerate and pull away from the eastern seaboard. look how fast this thing moves. by saturday it is clear of all of new england. now that said, we are under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch at the delmarva and hurricane warning for parts of cape cod. live in north carolina at outer banks where mandatory evacuation orders are in effect and we expect herl to hit later tonight. one day after the heroing deal at the discovery communications building in silver spring, we have new information on the suspect james j lee and the explosive devises he carried. snipers shot and killed lee as he held three hostages at gunpoint. all three got out safely. andrea mccarran is live in silver spring where first responders to yesterday's chaotic scene wrapped up a news conference. and andrea, there was praise for the people who helped the hostages get away safely and more on the man behind the madness. >> reporter: and we do have new

information at this hour, lesli. police will not yet share details, but investigators tonight are looking for a vehicle that was driven by or owned by the suspect. this comes after a day of major progress in the investigation. investigators today searched a residence in wheaton linked to james lee. there they discovered even more devices. >> and four additional devises of which we can tie the individual to right now were obtained from the residence and subsequently successfully detonated remotely from the residence and from any other areas of life safety issues here in the county. >> reporter: when lee walked into the discovery building with four makeshift explosives attached to his body, he carried also two boxes and backpacks. in his hand was a small device with a large antenna. that fueled fears he might try

to activate bombs remotely. police also discovered two guns, two ski masks and a number of batteries at the scene. >> both weapons have turned out to be starter pistols. >> reporter: bomb squads worked throughout the night to dispose of the other devices inside the discovery building. it was officially cleared by 4:00 a.m. >> the information that i received from the bomb squad was that had he been able to detonate those devices they would have been lethal, certainly to him. >> reporter: montgomery county fire and rescue and police regularly train together. in fact -- in fact, within the last 60 days they trained for a event just like this. andrea mccarran, 9 news now. an eyewitness to yesterday's standoff speaks

out. >> reporter: i'm jessica doyle. a local woman watches the event unfold in front of her window across the street. and our live team coverage of hurricane earl as people on north carolina's coast brace for impact tonight. the latest after the break.

let's get you back to our coverage of hurricane earl. right now evacuation orders are in effect for parts of the north carolina coast. topper tell us more. >> well we are still looking at a hurricane warning for those folks. but also we have a hurricane watch up here now. storm is bearing down on the carolinas and meteorologist grant gilmore is live at the outer banks at kill devil hills. tell us how bad the storm is and how serious people are taking the storm. >> reporter: topper, the seas are starting to rise. it's been a gradual increase in

everything. or maybe i should say a deterioration in conditions as we've gone throughout the day. the seas have become more choppy, the winds have gradually increased and of course the cloud cover moving in. now as we go into the evening, we haven't had any rain yet but of course looking at radar we know that soon that will not be the situation. everybody around the area, everybody is heeding the warnings and staying out of the water and away from the rip currents and away from the dangerous surf out there right now. now we are expecting for winds to gradually increase throughout the rest of the night. we're expecting tropical storm force winds to be anywhere between 60 miles per hour and then we'll be looking at the potential hurricane-force winds to move in after midnight. right now it seems like a 30-40 mile-per-hour sustained wind so right on the brink of the tropical storm force wind. a big concern into the rest of the night is the surge where we could see anywhere between 2-5 feet. right here where we are

broadcasting live, we are only 3 feet above elevation. and later tonight we probably won't be here. and still we haven't had any rain and wind isn't that much of an issue. >> let me show you live doppler. we'll show you where he is. we'll talk about wave hights. 8 feet, 10, feet and off shore 15-foot waves and almost 16- foot waves now pounding hatteras. we'll come back and break it down for us and talk about our watches and warnings and the weekend. full forecast next. stay tuned. chevy chase bank is becoming capital one bank.

with the most locations in the dc area, we figured they could use our help. ♪ down a bit. too much. [ crowd cheering ] [ grunts ]

[ garth ] capital one bank. now with the most branches and atms in the dc area. what's in your wallet? now with the most branches and atms in the dc area. i think it's greatove about how they put politicss union? above my child's education. it's cool how the union makes it

almost impossible to fire bad teachers. it's impressive how my dues money supports politicians i don't even like. dc's teachers union has failed our kids, played politics, and now is threatening to file a lawsuit to block recent progress. find out more at teachersunionexposed.com/dc. thanks, teachers unions. the deadly standoff at the discovery channel building is over but for some the images of that frightening ordeal will be hard to erase. imagine if you watched it unfold not on television but from your own store-front window. that's what happened to one silver spring business owner. and as jessica doyle tells us,

that business owners husband worked for discovery and was trapped 7 floors above her. >> my husband had called and said i'm getting ready to go to lunch, what do you want? so i called him away and said stay where you are, look out your window. >> reporter: the first sign of trouble for ron simon came over the cell phone from his wife jessica. >> i love you. bye. >> reporter: together they own pet store living rough right across the street from the discovery headquarters. and jessica watches the hostage situation unfold right before her very eyes. >> police, guns drawn, it was just a nightmare. >> reporter: jessica turned on the news and reported information back to her husband, trapped 7 stories above her. >> a friday frantic situation and all i cared about -- a very frantic situation and all i cared about was him. >> reporter: what she saw next. >> i could see a man with a gun and what looked like something strapped to his back.

>> reporter: but ron helped jessica hold things together. >> he was so calm and collected and that helped me keep level- headed about the whole situation. >> reporter: ron was eventually evacuated and went straight to jessica. >> it was so happy to see him. as soon as i saw him, i felt better. i know he felt better. and it was a nice time going home together last night. >> reporter: a scary day, but for the simons, one with a happy ending. in silver spring, jessica doyle, 9 news now. >> glad to hear that. well stay with us here at 9 news now and wusa9.com and we'll bring you the latest developments in the investigation. for the first time in over a year, israeli and palestinian negotiators met face-to-face. secretary of state hillary clinton opened the meeting today and served as moderator. the palestinians want israel to stop building settlements on disputed land and they want the israelis to free every palestinian prisoner they now hold. israel wants guarantees that it

won't come under attack from a future palestinian state. all sides are cautiously optimistic they can find common ground in the next year. >> we want to have a new era in our region, an era that brings peace, justice, security and prosperity for all. >> people of israel and i as their prime minister are prepared to walk this road and to go a long way in a short time to achieve a genuine peace. >> the militant group hamas is trying to derail the talks by launching attack this is week. but both israelis and the president obama said they will not let the violence derail peace. another oil rig explosion and you can see the sheen from the oil across the gulf today. the coast guard said the film

is about a mile long. the site of today's explosion is west of where bp's massive spill occurred. all 13 people aboard the rig were found floating above the water in their survival gear. it is owned by merit energy of houston. we are inching closer to the holiday weekend and seeing signs of what is to come. on 66 westbound, long delays from 495 to 7100. drivers clocking in at about 30 minutes right now. same story on 395 for folks making their way past washington boulevard, a crawl down to the mixing bowl. and on the 495 right now, toll road to the 270 spur, about a 25-minute commute for you. lesli. >> we want to remind you about a special section on wusa9.com. it's your neighborhood news. it's called where you live. it's on the front page. you pick your city and read all about the news in your backyard. well we've been talking

about hurricane earl but we're not going to see the effects of it here in our backyard. >> no. speaking of backyards, no. we're in good shape here. partly sunny skies, now southern bay. you'll have a glancing blow. we do have hurricane warnings in effect now for north carolina. we talked about that earlier with our live report from grant in kill devil hills. but we also have tropical storm warnings in effect now up the coast and that includes us, all the way up into new england. so these are the warnings in north carolina, and tropical storm warnings for us. but in addition to the warnings, from rehoboth beach southward we have a hurricane watch in effect. we'll talk about the winds. we'll get closer with the winds now. we put ocean city and bethany and rehoboth on the map and zoomed in. tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. hatteras will briefly be buffeted with hurricane-force winds or stronger. tropical storm force winds inching up the bay and by that

we mean 39-40 mile-per-hour winds. we'll stop it at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and most of the delmarva, we talked about this, getting hit with tropical storm force winds. up to 4-miles per hour -- up to 40 miles per hour with higher near ocean city. and then the storm begins to accelerate and parallel the coast away from us. and we'll salvage a very nice friday afternoon even at the shore. just be advised that perhaps some big rip currents both friday and saturday in the wake of earl. thursday night, small craft advisory tonight, waves 1-3 feet. winds east southeast at 1-3. solomon and cambridge is where we are concerned about in terms of any tropical storm force winds. by tomorrow morning, small craft advisory, waves 1-3 feet. winds east northeast at 1-30. and tonight tropical storm warning. winds 20-40 with higher gusts and tomorrow morning from 6:00 a.m. to noon we could see 30-50 mile-

per-hour winds especially around ocean city, less toward rehoboth, probably 40 miles per hour in rehoboth. 92 downtown. 90 in gaithersburg. 93 in leesberg. for tonight, not quite as cool as it has been. partly cloudy and mild. 66 to about 74. tomorrow morning, increasing high clouds. that's the only effect for us of earl. pleasant and 70s and 80s. good deal. by afternoon, partly sunny and not quite as hot. earl departs the beaches and highs near 90. 89 tomorrow, 80 on saturday. a great weekend. earl will not spoil the weather from mountains to the coast. 80 on saturday. 79 on sunday. back into the upper 80s on labor day. kind of a nice way to close out the unofficial end of summer. briefly hot next week and then back in the mid-80s with storms on thursday. >> all right, tope. preseason finale. in days redskins will play for real. for several dozen redskins, tonight is the last audition.

we'll tell you who is on the bubble as we countdown tonight's preseason finale in arizona. plus why nigel morgan is not apologizing today for starting this -- 9 sports next.

well if you're looking to see donovan mcnabb or clinton portis or mike sellers tonight, you won't. and if you're looking to see the rest of the redskins starters don't get up for a sandwich in the first part of the game because that's all they will play. mike shanahan will be extra cautious. one or two series at most for the first unit with some starters getting the night oval together. backup quarterback rex grossman will get the start and said he will approach tonight's game as if donovan mcnabb won't be ready for monday night. >> as a backup, you have to prepare like you're a starter no matter what. and no matter what happens i'll be ready. i want to prepare like i'm starting and if i'm in there, i will play well. >> and last chance for bubble

guys to make an impression, guys like willie parker and armstrong and toreain are playing for their jobs. the skins cut the roster from 75 to 53 on saturday. the only two major football programs in the state of maryland and yet they played each other just once since 1965. that changes on monday. the terps and midshipman renew their rivalry this labor day on the neutral field in baltimore. the terps were 2-10, the mids were 10-4 and won a bowl game. but freakon's guys come monday at 7:30, last year is out of the window. >> we forgot about last year. we're focusing on this year. >> we're playing on national television against a ranked team, this is our opportunity to show everyone that we're not

a 2-10 team and this is a different season. terps basketball opens at home against seattle. they have matchups against pitt and temple and penn state and either illinois or texas and new york. and they open at duke january 9th. it will be gary williams 22 season at maryland. back when nigel morgan was playing pocket for the pats, nobody thought twice when he dropped the gloves and knocked a couple of teeth out of some opposing muck. but now he's had to restrain himself. well last night the restraint went out of the window. having been hit by a pitch when the marlins went after him again in the 6th it was go- time. he put a left hook into the face of chris volstad and then got rebelled by sanchez and all of south florida jumped in. after the game nigel had no remorse. >> i had to defend myself. and if it happened again, i'd do it again. so it's just one of those things where i'm a hard-nosed player and i'm grimy and just

trying to protect myself, basically. >> did he say he was grimy? u.s. open, roger federer rolling along, winning his second rounder in straights against beck of germany. and how about maryland's own tracy cap ra. just 18 years old pulling off the upset beating the 18th seat. cap ra just graduated from laurel springs high school this may. maryland is in the house at flushing meadows. great win for her. >> and she didn't even have to be grimy. >> not grimy at all. we're not grimy. >> grimy forecast. not bad. no effects of the hurricane in the metro area. hurricane watch and warning on the coast at 7:00 and we'll have the full holiday forecast at 7:00. >> that's it for us. have a great night.